Art is often seen as a source of beauty and aesthetic pleasure. This perspective, deeply rooted in Western tradition, only emerged after the French Revolution, and reflects a world shaped by industrialization, imperialism, and individualization.

Séverine Gallardo takes a different path. In a playful and vibrant manner, she invites us to reconsider the contemporary meaning of art. With her work she distances herself from the white space of the traditional art gallery. Her art clings to a universal and timeless idea of art, in which the object functions as a mediator. Not beauty, but ritual and medium are the threads running through the tangle. Gallardo's artistic act consists of repetition and focus. As a result, objects transform into thoughts: My headdresses take me to places I never thought I would go. In this way, the artist reminds us of art's original role as a link between the tangible and the abstract.

As the idea of progress drags us through the Anthropocene at breakneck speed, these links or connections seem lost to many. Simple feelings of silly joy, mourning or wistfulness are often dismissed today as weak or irrelevant. Not for Gallardo: she follows her instinct and pays attention to three types of archetypal connections in her oeuvre.

The first is the one between action and dream. It connects the hand with the head, acting with being. This human duality - which already inspired Plato - becomes palpable as the artist gropes with her hands for whereto her mind wants to be guided. Doing is her guideline.

The second connects matter with idea. Fish skin, silk, wool, beetles, and shells are given an unexpected function in an idealistic context. Where many get stuck in a purposeful loop, a poetic pattern of new possibilities reveals itself for the artist. Her work is detached from any goal, is not compulsive and thus completely liberating.

Third is the connection between the individual and the universe. Gallardo's work merges the minuscule human with the grand, the all-encompassing or the divine. We see a microscopic fluff relate to the universe. Here, insignificance is linked to an enigmatic motivation.

Archi-textile by Séverine Gallardo shows you in a textile way the architecture of your head: what shapes your thinking, what grows and flourishes in your brain garden? Can you still connect with simplicity, innocence, and an inspiring indeterminacy? Her playful, colorful world lets you discover how art can fill not only space, but also the soul.

Séverine Gallardo // Website • Instagram